Countryside Marketing

27/11/2023

Farm diversification & Planning Permission
- a short survey for rural businesses in Bucks.

Bucks Council runs a 'Rural Forum' meeting every 6 months. At our last meeting the subject of Farm Diversification was raised in light of the withdrawl of BPS and the desire for Landowners and Farmers to assist Councils with delivering landscape-scale Nature Recovery.

Farming members of the Rural Forum highlighted to the Councillors and Planning Officers at the meeting that Planning Permission is often needed for Farm Diversification schemes and is mandatory for many applications to Grant Schemes such as the Bucks Rural Business Grant or more general rural grants on offer from RPA/Defra through the Farm Investment Fund, which has replaced the Rural Development Programme for England.

With the goal of trying to ensure that Planning does not hold up Grant Scheme-backed diversification projects, A working party has been set up to gather evidence and input from the farming community in Buckinghamshire. Your input can remain anonymous if you wish but will hold more weight if you are happy to share your details.

TIMELINE Cllr Collingwood has asked us to collect this evidence in advance of our next meeting on 6th December.https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9YTo_RgHEJh3InwfpYCp844fS5NPot5tmJNNAZH9fZwcq5w/viewform

28/04/2023

Farming Grant Information Evening - April 2023

I was pleased to help coordinate our third meeting for 35 farmers and landowners looking at Rural and Woodland Grants and how the funding landscape has changed since our last event in November.

My thanks to Red Kite Fasrm for the venue, to Tom Cackett of Savills, Justin Mumford of Nicholsons.

We concluded with some delicious pies from our local farm shop.
Laceys' Family Farm

08/11/2022

Farming Grant Information Evening

I was pleased to help co-ordinate a meeting of 30 farmers, The Chilterns Conservation Board, Savills and Ngage solutions to discuss the changing grants scene in Bucks and the Chilterns AONB.
We discussed the demise of BPS, HLS and ELMS, the changes with Countryside Stewardship the new SFI scheme and of course Farming in Protected Landscapes. We also covered other new schemes that will soon be launched. My thanks to Vale Training for the venue, to Tom Cackett of Savills, Will Dallimore of Ngage and Gareth Clay of CCB for speaking and sponsoring the evening. We concluded with some delicious pies from our local farm shop.
Savills
Laceys' Family Farm

Vale Training Services Ltd

31/10/2022

If you are attending the Farm Business Innovation show on Thursday, I'd be pleased to meet you after (or before) my talk about marketing. https://www.holidayparkshow.co.uk/speakers/

21/10/2022

I am delighted to have led the Product Development and Marketing of CL Booking and collaborated with 20 other farmers and landowners to build this into a service that so far has 240 campsites in rural locations listed and is helping 20,000 Caravan and Motorhome Club members find availability on these small rural sites.

I look forward to continuing the development process in full consultation with both the campsite owners (mostly working farmers) and our users who love to visit our rural locations in their caravans or campers.

Congratulations to Ted Howard-Jones, CL Booking, Buckinghamshire - Digital Innovator of the Year silver award winner! Morrisons Lely CLBooking - Caravan & Motorhome Club CL Site Availability

21/10/2022

Congratulations to Ted Howard-Jones, CL Booking, Buckinghamshire - Digital Innovator of the Year silver award winner! Morrisons Lely CLBooking - Caravan & Motorhome Club CL Site Availability

04/10/2022

We were delighted to both host and coordinate an event here yesterday, connecting the Thames Valley Rural Crime Team with 40 or so local farmers to discuss and look at farm security.

25/09/2022

We are pleased to offer to host this event in conjunction with Thames Valley Police

06/09/2022

Delighted to be interviewed in the CLA Magazine about running a small caravan site and the benefits it brings, not only to us as a farm diversification enterprise, but also to the wider rural economy, such as farm shops and local pubs.

It also allows me to discuss rural issues - for example, the damage that fallow deer are doing to our native woodlands and the need for culling - with our visitors.

Our 5-van caravan site, licensed by the Caravan & Motorhome Club site is ideally located in the Chilterns AONB with amazing views which is one of the factors that helps us achieve an occupancy year-round of 85%, but this is coupled with very strong marketing and connecting to the latest digital platforms to make it really easy for customers to book our site. These include CL Booking, the website that lists over 230 similar campsites across the UK and now has over 19,000 users. Countryside Marketing is pleased to be a pivotal part of this website and mobile app.

29/08/2022

BRITISH FARMING AWARDS
WE'RE THRILLED TO BE NOMINATED!

CL Booking has been recognised by the British Farming Awards thanks to the incredible support of Caravan & Motorhome Club members and hundreds of CL Owners who have chosen to share the availability of their CL sites on CL Booking.

Ted Howard-Jones, the farmer and CL owner who helped coordinate the design and launch of CL Booking with the help of 20 other owners, stated, "I'm overwhelmed with the fabulous feedback we've had, both online, via email, and in-person when we've met members who have used the service and quickly and easily booked a CL site." I'm thrilled that we were able to assist our fellow farmers and the rural economy during this extremely difficult time.

Farmers recently facing drought conditions for their livestock, the threat of field fires, or simply runaway inflation (fertiliser prices have increased by 300%) require all the assistance they can get, and a CL site is often an important part of their diversification. This nomination recognises our accomplishments and all of the help we've received.

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30/05/2022

I was delighted to contribute an Article to Open Air Business magazine on the subject of Booking Systems https://openairbusiness.com/booking-systems/

29/04/2021

Sometimes you need to grab an opportunity. Occasionally the press, TV or film need to use farmland for a shoot..

The artwork features a lesser spotted woodpecker trapped in a disposable facemask